Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Family Visit

Thursday April 5, 2012Lithia Springs Site #38

They sure came a long way to see us.

Yesterday afternoon David’s older brother Roger and his Wife Carol visited us as part of a huge 4000 mile “visit the family” trip they made in their Ford F150 with their Shih-Tzu dog Yoda.

They left Frederick Maryland and went to Searcy Arkansas, Oklahoma City, Frederick, Oklahoma, Austin Texas and here outside of Tampa. Makes me tired just to type it.

Do they look like brothers??

There was lots of chatting about their trip, our travels, all of our children, David’s illness, Winnona, our lifestyle, Yoda’s being under the weather, and a difficult beginning to a trip to Rome that they took. And that was only in the first few minutes. :-) We walked up to see the springs – the #1 spring – I call it the Swimming Pool Spring and the “secondary” spring which is the really the pretty one marked No Trespassing.

They stayed for dinner and I neglected to get a picture. We talked on into the dark when the mosquitoes forced us inside for more chatting and a dessert of fresh pineapple and strawberries – no picture of that either. :-(

Interesting that the Boyd Brothers must have some special type of blood since the mosquitoes are not interested in either one of them. Or perhaps the insects are just so busy biting me all over that they don’t have time to bother with them.

We were able to see Roger and Carol again for a brief visit on Thursday Morning.

But soon they had to get on the road to return to Maryland. It was wonderful of them to include a serious mileage distance addition to drop down so far into Florida to see us on their travels. We wished them a safe trip and Yoda a good doctor visit.

David’s medical visits are on the increase.

David’s back pain returned last night in spite of the Memory Foam mattress topper so after Roger and Carol left, he took a nap. Then his doctor’s nurse called to tell him that the MRI results show a bulging L4 disc for which he will need another doctor appointment.

Lunch time, then I retreated his ear that is clogged with wax and not hearing. It appears Debrox isn’t going to fix this and he’s going to have to go to yet another doctor for that. While he was letting the medicine sit in his ear for 15 minutes he fell into another nap which was awakened by the first call back from Verizon in 4 days.

I wonder why polite and patient patrons finish last.

What was left of the afternoon was spent dealing more with Verizon runaround where they still had no solution to why this device won’t work right. But like every day before, this person would have X from a different group call us back. So far we are 1 for 4 in terms of call backs promised and received. Thus we call them everyday and David, who bought this thing, is WAY too nice to them all in my opinion. You know all about the squeaky wheel and I’m afraid it’s actually the furious wheel that gets the attention.

Inflation hits filing our taxes.

After that it was on to checking over the taxes to make sure there isn’t some way we can pay less than it looks like we owe. Interesting that this year if you buy the “Deluxe” version of Turbo Tax, which costs the same as it did last year, you no longer get a choice of state forms. Now it is an extra $40 charge to get them. Looks like a serious price increase to me. Who was it said we have no inflation? My answer to this new charge is that I probably won’t bother with Turbo Tax next year since I’m not a high enough roller to need it I don’t think and this year I’ll just download the forms from the state’s website.

Well I will that is when I can find an internet connection. Sounds like a great day in the life of a fulltimer doesn’t it???? Thanks to Roger and Carol the day wasn’t totally a wash!

Okay, so you squeek better than I do, I'll admit it, but I will get this fixed, not to worry. Special thanks for taking the photos and cooking a fine dinner while my brother & his wife were here. It was delicious!

Sorry to hear that your internet woes are continuing. I just checked with Mui, since he uses Turbo Tax for our return. He said he bought the Deluxe and did get the "one" free state form. He did have to pay a fee to file that form, however.

Safely back in Maryland... all is beautiful here.. and my redbud and red maple waited for me. It was special to be able to visit. I know this disease is frustrating... and limiting. Enjoyed seeing where you guys "hang out" and being able to talk with David face to face.. and see his sweet smile and gentle demeanor - always the same. And to you Sherry - a special thanks for dinner and hospitality.

I used the Deluxe version of Turbo Tax and it allowed me to select which state form I wanted. It completed the form, but I could not send it electronically. When I re-read the box I noticed that it said you get a state form, but did not indicate that you could send it electronically, like it said for the federal form. I thought that was sneaky as I expected to send both electronically. Then I remembered last year I had to pay the extra to send it electronically.Gene on Ohio